Pearls and Primroses
Pearls and Primroses is a short story which was first published in Stirring Tales for Girls, Odhams Press, 1960. This is one of the uncollected stories. After being first published in the Annual, it was not collected into an anthology published in Johns' lifetime. Synopsis The story is a reworking (albeit substantial) of an earlier uncollected story Worrals Works It Out but now featuring two regular policewomen, Margaret "Robby" Robertson and her assistant Jill Peters. The two are sent to follow up on a report of a girl who apparently found a string of valuable pearls. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Two Scotland Yard policewomen, Margaret "Robby" Robertson and her assistant Jill Peters are sent by their chief to look into the case of Prudence Grey. Prudence, a thirteen year old schoolgirl had apparently stopped by some woods on her way to school to pick some primroses for her teacher. There she had found a string of pearls and had met a man who demanded what she was doing there and then chased her. Her school principal did not believe her and instead reprimanded her for lying and being late to school. She had confiscated the string of pearls and dismissed it as some cheap and useless trinket. The village policeman had been notified, but, naturally, found nobody at the wood. Prudence, however, stuck adamently to her story. Prudence's father had also reacted angrily to the way his daughter's story had been dismissed. He lodged a complaint about police negligence and this had prompted Robby's chief to send them to interview the girl. Robby at first sees her mission as being quite straightforward. She would check up on the girl's story as far as possible and then report to the chief. That would at least satisfy the girl's father that something was being done. Robby and Jill call on Miss Rowley, the principal of the village school at Fellsdale, which Prudence attended. Miss Rowley feels the affair is a lot of fuss about nothing and that Prudence's story must be mere imagination. She concedes, however, that the girl is not in the habit of making up tales. Robby take the pearls Miss Rowley had taken from Prudence and runs them over her teeth. They are real! And very valuable. This is a shock to Miss Rowley and even Robby herself. She admits to Jill later that she had not even given that possibility a thought. If one part of Prudence's story is true, the rest might well be also. Robby and Jill go next to Prudence's house. She had not been to school for some days as she had been upset about being reprimanded but she speaks to Robby and Jill willingly and shows them the place where the events happened. Robby suggests they search for some more jewels and soon find a diamond clip and two loose pearls among the dead leaves. Then Prudence sees another part of her pearl necklace hanging from some branches. Nearby they see a small home made parachute attached to a little white box. Prudence offers to climb up the tree and soon detaches the parachute and sends it down. Robby examines the contents--many valuable jewels. It is obvious that somebody did not want to bring them through Customs and had arranged for them to be dropped from an aircraft. There is a noise as Prudence rushes down from the tree. The man who chased her is approaching! Actually there are now two of them, and they are walking up and down the field next to the wood, searching for something. Robby sends Jill and Prudence back to her farmhouse to call the chief. Meanwhile she would wait for them in the wood. Jill comes back after half and hour. The chief is on the way and she had left Prudence by the main road to show the police the way. The two men are still searching the field but approaching the wood. Robby and Jill can hear the police cars arriving and move to the edge of the wood. The two men spot Robby and Jill and come to a stand still. Robby walks up to them and asks if they are searching for something. She then produces the parachute and asks if it is theirs. One of the men says it is his and snatches it and runs away. Jill blows on her police whistle. Policemen converge on the scene from all directions and take the two men into custody. Robby's chief examines the jewels and is delighted. They are the proceeds of a robbery in Paris a week ago. Now an insurance company has offered a reward of a thousand pounds for information leading to the recovery of the jewels or the conviction of the criminals. So it seems that Prudence is a lucky girl! Characters *Margaret Robertson *Jill Peters *Prudence Grey *Miss Rowley Aircraft *An unidentified aircraft had dropped the parcel of jewels. Places Visited *Fellsdale, Sussex **Five Oaks Farm Mentioned Research Notes *Although a reworking of Worrals Works It Out, there are substantial changes. **Instead of Worrals and Frecks, two regular Scotland Yard policewomen are now involved. **Unlike Alice Bates, who was believed by the police immediately, in this story, Johns plays up very strongly the theme of a truthful youth being greeted with scepticism and disbelief by adults. The school principal did not believe the story of Prudence Grey. Even Scotland Yard was inclined to be sceptical. Margaret Robertson tells Jill that the primary purpose of their follow up was merely to reassure Prudence's father that something was being done about his complaint that his girl had been chased by a man. Margaret only changed her approach when she discovered that the pearls Prudence had found were real and very valuable. *This storyline was again reworked for The Case of the Early Boy which was published in 1963. Publication History *First published in Stirring Tales for Girls, 1960 *Collected in Winged Justice and Other Uncollected Stories, Norman Wright, 2001 *Reprinted in Biggles Flies Again Vol. 2 No. 5, July 2005 References Category:Short stories Category:Non-series short stories